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Safety and Adverse effects of Natural Progesterone

Safety and Adverse effects of Natural Progesterone

I received this email from a patient:

Hello Dr Dach,

I mentioned to my mom this evening that I would start to take progesterone pills next month for a portion of my cycle. She said that a few years ago, she used a progesterone cream. She said she couldn’t remember the reason why her doctor put her on a cream instead of a pill so she wanted me to ask about the health risks that go along with taking a progesterone pill.

I didn’t think to ask Dr. Dach when I spoke with him today about the side effects of using progesterone (pill or cream). Are there any side effects that I should be concerned about or aware of? Is there any difference in health risks between the progesterone pill or cream?

Thank you all for the time that you spend with me answering questions and planning my treatment! I really appreciate it!

Sincerely, Nancy

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My Reply to Nancy:

Hi Nancy,

Progesterone is the natural hormone made by the ovary after ovulation, so it is very safe with no adverse effects. Excess dosage however, can cause drowsiness, which is helpful for treating insomnia if taken before bedtime to get a good night’s sleep.

For the cycling female, the usual dosage is 100 mg capsule twice a day with food for days 12-26 of the cycle. If the morning progesterone dosage causes drowsiness, then this is omitted and instead both capsules are taken at night before sleep.

Progersterone is NOT a Progestin

Sometimes, a patient or even their doctor mistakenly confuses Progesterone with the Progestins. Progestins are synthetic hormones which are chemically altered forms of Progesterone. The Progestins are known to cause cancer and heart disease, and have other adverse effects which are not shared by natural progesterone. For this reason, we do not prescribe Progestins in my office. We use the safe, protective natural progesterone.

The MPA mouse breast cancer model

Medroxyprogesterone (MPA) is still being prescribed, raking in 600 million for Pfizer in 2016. MPA, is short-hand for medroxy-progesterone. This is the progestin used in the Women’s Health Initiative Study, and used by 95 million women, until 2002 when MPA was shown carcinogenic. It is now used in the laboratory to induce breast cancer in mice. This is called the “MPA mouse Breast Cancer Model“.(28) Would you take a synthetic hormone used as a carcinogen to induce breast cancer in mice? I wouldn’t recommend it. (28)

In vitro studies with two breast cancer cell lines by Dr Formby showed that progesterone “exhibited a strong anti-proliferative effect” and induced apoptosis in the cancer cell line expressing the progesterone receptor.(2)

Drs Ferretti and Jerry suggest a protective role for progesterone, citing the work of Rajkumar who showed a protective effect of combined estrogen and progesterone in animal models of breast cancer.(3-5)

“Rajkumar and coworkers have now demonstrated that these hormones protect mice from mammary tumors initiated by a spectrum of oncogenic alterations that are common in breast cancers. Although differences between rodent models and humans remain, the results reveal that exogenous estrogen and progesterone potently inhibit tumorigenesis through multiple pathways and establish a foundation for strategies to prevent breast cancer.”

To study the effect of E2 and P on the epithelial cell cycle of normal human breast in vivo.
Double-blind, randomized study. Topical application to the breast of a gel containing either a placebo, E2, P, or a combination of E2 and P, daily, during the 10 to 13 days preceding breast surgery.
Forty premenopausal women undergoing breast surgery for the removal of a lump. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES. Plasma and breast tissue concentrations of E2 and P. Epithelial cell cycle evaluated in normal breast tissue areas by counting mitoses and proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunostaining quantitative analyses.
Increased E2 concentration increases the number of cycling epithelial cells. Increased P concentration significantly decreases the number of cycling epithelial cells.
exposure to P for 10 to 13 days reduces E2-induced proliferation of normal breast epithelial cells in vivo.

26) In Vivo. 2010 Jul-Aug;24(4):553-60. Short-term pregnancy hormone treatment of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced mammary carcinogenesis in relation to fatty acid composition of serum phospholipids in female Lewis rats. Lai YC1, Hamazaki K, Yoshizawa K, Kawanaka A, Kuwata M, Kanematsu S, Hamazaki T, Takada H, Tsubura A.
Short-term oestrogen and progesterone treatment (STEPT) mimics the pregnancy hormone milieu. This study compared the development of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced mammary cancer in female Lewis rats that received STEPT in early or later life.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:Rats in Groups 1 and 2 received a single intraperitoneal injection of 50 mg/kg MNU at 4 weeks old. Pellets containing 0.5 mg 17beta-estradiol and 32.5 mg progesterone (EP) were subcutaneously implanted in rats in Group 1 during 6-9 weeks old. Rats in Groups 3 and 4 received 50 mg/kg MNU at 22 weeks old and again at 23 weeks old. EP pellets were implanted in rats in Group 3 during 24-27 weeks old. At the time of EP removal and 8 weeks afterward, 4 randomly selected rats in each group were sacrificed for blood sampling. The fatty acid composition of serum phospholipids was measured by capillary gas chromatography. The remaining rats were sacrificed when they developed mammary tumours >or=1 cm in diameter or at the termination of the experiment, which was at 18 weeks old for Groups 1 and 2 and at 64 weeks old for Groups 3 and 4. Mammary cancer was histologically confirmed.
RESULTS:Group 1 had a significantly suppressed incidence of mammary cancer compared to Group 2 (7% vs. 90%), whereas the cancer incidence in Group 3 was similar to that of Group 4 (50% vs. 56%). Rats in Group 1 had significantly smaller n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ratios and higher levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) than those in Group 2 at the time of EP removal but not 8 weeks after EP removal. Neither the PUFA ratios nor the DHA levels differed between Groups 3 and 4 at any time. These data suggest that the age at which STEPT is administered is important, since its mammary cancer-suppressing potential was lost in aged animals.

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The interface of the neurosteroid, progesterone, and GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter and amino acid -both- is very significant in understanding the mechanism by which GABA works, particularly in women. We have helped many women get off benzodiazepine drugs by learning this.
In the presence of the progesterone metabolite allopregnanolone, the subunit on the GABA-AR is activated and downregulated- meaning one becomes calmer. if there is not sufficient alloprgnanolone, then GABA can become an excitatory (stimulant) molecule instead of calming. GABA is fantastic for calmness but because of these complex mechanisms, little is obvious about its uptake as it does not cross the BB in the usual sequences.

A large part of the ‘problem’ is the language we use. Both progesterone USP and medroxyprogesterone are progestins. I have a strong feeling that he definitions were intentionally made confusing so that the drug versions could be passed off as a kind of progesterone. Insidious?

AS A BIOCHEMIST HAVING DONE YEARS OF RESEARCH ON THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN REAL (PROGESTERONE) AND SYNTHETIC PROGESTINS HERE ARE A FEW THOUGHTS:
TRANSDERMAL PROGESTERONE IS WONDERFUL FOR ANXIETY, ORAL ( EVEN IF REAL PROGESTERONE) PROGESTERONE OFTEN MAKES WOMEN SLEEPY BEFORE THEY GET CALM, BECAUSE OF UPPER GI INVOLVEMENT THAT MAKES MOLECULE THAT IS A FIRST COUSIN OF PHENOBARBITAL, A POTENT BARBITUATE.
WE OFTEN HAVE WOMEN WITH ANXIETY SPREAD OUT 100 MG DOSES OF CREAM PROGESTERONE DURING THE DAY-NOT MORE THAN THAT IN ONE DOSE OVER 2-3 HOURS- THEN OFTEN USE QUITE A BIT MORE AT NIGHT.
THE VERY FEW WOMEN WHO DO NOT CALM DOWN MAY BE SHUNTING PROGESTERONE TO CORTISOL BECAUSE OF ADRENAL FATIGUE- WHICH IS SOMETIMES GREATLY HELPED BY ACTUAL NATURAL HC. (HYDROCORTISONE DROPS)

Ruužica Marunica

Hello. My name is Ružica I’m old for 56 years. I’ve been postmenopausal for six years now. I also have hypothyroidism for which I use natural hormones. a little painful and high pressure and probably the dominance of estrogen, I also have a problem with sleeping, if I do not drink my pills I do not sleep well. I also have the right hip arthrosis. I’m interested in bio-progesterone, would it be good to take it? Where can I buy it? My libido and apathy are at zero. I would like your advice. Thank you.